The Model

Mads Matthiesen,
Denmark, Poland 2016,
105 min

“Are you ready for it?” asks her father as they drive to the airport. Emma, still an adolescent, nods timidly in affirmation. Her illusion that the camera will only capture her slim figure gets mercilessly shattered during her very first shoot, when top photographer Shane White asks her to look into the camera more lustfully, like a practiced nymphomaniac.
Director Mads Matthiesen employs slow-paced camerawork to show how Emma finds her way around the elusive etiquette of the fashion world under Shane’s guidance. She quickly acquires the necessary egocentric skills to maintain herself and be noticed. The Model paints a tender portrait of Emma’s budding sensuality, which the model agency always coldly uses as a bargaining chip during contract negotiations. Gradually Emma realises that lust functions as currency. In the end, her innocence falls prey to the tension between the ultimate dream job and her common sense.